Colombia’s Political Problems Are an Opportunity for America

This article by IWP alumna Christine Balling was published by The National Interest in April 2018.

Continued U.S. investment in Colombian national security is not a threat to regional peace, but rather, its guarantor.

In order to better coordinate his response to the latest developments in Syria, President Trump has cancelled what would have been his first trip to South America. Vice President Pence will now go in his stead to attend the Eighth Summit of the Americas.

On the sidelines of that conference, Pence will meet with Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016 for striking a peace deal with the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). While the Obama administration unreservedly supported that peace process and agreement, the majority of the Colombian people did not, voting against it in a 2016 referendum. However, at the urging of the Santos administration, the Colombian Congress approved the deal anyway.